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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Atheist group tells Raw Story it’s defiant in face of Republican lawmaker’s threats

Atheist group tells Raw Story it’s defiant in face of Republican lawmaker’s threats

By David FergusonWednesday, December 18, 2013 7:49 EST

The
group American Atheists, Inc. is simultaneously outraged and bemused at
a spate of attacks by a New York Republican state senator. The lawmaker
is trying to organize a boycott of New York City’s Times Square while
starting a petition to shut down a billboard erected there by American
Atheists and to revoke the group’s nonprofit status.

In a conversation with Raw Story, American Atheists’ communication
director Dave Muscato said that New York state Sen. Andrew Lanza (R)
probably knows full well that everything he’s asking for is impossible,
but that his real goal isn’t actually to do any of it.
“The petition, all of it, it’s a joke,” Muscato said. “I think he’s pretty clearly just farming for emails.”
Email
“farming” is when a petitioner launches a political petition that they
know is hopeless, but which they are using to gather the names and email
addresses of people from whom they can later solicit donations. The
practice is used by groups on both the right and left, but is typically
considered to be poor form, a means of roping in the gullible by way of
their idealism.
On his state legislative website, Sen. Lanza declared in all capital
letters, “SENATOR ANDREW LANZA DENOUNCES AMERICAN ATHEISTS’ HATEFUL
TIMES SQUARE ADVERTISEMENT SAYING ‘NOBODY’ NEEDS ‘CHRIST DURING
CHRISTMAS’.”
In a statement
on the site, Lanza lamented, “Just as millions of Americans are
preparing to celebrate Christmas, this intolerant and hateful group
deliberately ridicules the solemn beliefs of millions of New Yorkers.”
American Atheists and people like them, said Lanza, are going to cause another Holocaust.
“This is part of a continued ‘War on Christmas,’ Lanza said, “and
also upon the belief and value system of millions of Christian, Jewish
and Muslim people who have faith in God. Religious persecution of the
kind that similarly lead to the Holocaust began with small evil baby
steps of ridicule and hatred of the religious beliefs of others.”
Muscato scoffed, “This is pandering. He’s just puffing up his chest
and saying, ‘Look at me, I’m a Christian and I’m so offended by this!’”
“We’re not hate speech,” Muscato said. “I think he just wants attention and to show off how ‘religious’ he is.”
Besides, he noted, this is exactly the sort of government
interference in free speech that the U.S. Constitution prohibits in the
First Amendment.
“We have a Constitutional right to freedom of speech,” Muscato said.
“And this a direct violation of that, a government official trying to
tell a nonprofit organization that because what we’re saying disagrees
with his religion, it’s hate speech. I’m outraged that he even thinks
this is a good idea.”
“Part of me wonders if he hasn’t read the Constitution,” he concluded, “or if he just doesn’t care.”
The group published an open letter in response to Lanza on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, American Atheists unveiled a billboard in Times Square that asked,
“Who needs Christ during Christmas? Nobody. Celebrate the true meaning
of Xmas!” as the backdrop lit up with words like, “snow,” “music,”
“family,” “fun” and “lights.”
In an accompanying press release, the group pointed out that early
Christians grafted the celebration of Christ’s birth on to already
existing pagan holidays.
“We all love this time of year. Christianity has been trying to claim
ownership of the season for hundreds of years. But the winter solstice
came first and so did its traditions. The season belongs to everybody,”
said American Atheists’ president David Silverman.

David Ferguson

David Ferguson is
an editor at Raw Story. He was previously writer and radio producer in
Athens, Georgia, hosting two shows for Georgia Public Broadcasting and
blogging at Firedoglake.com and elsewhere. He is currently working on a
book.